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Centennial Celebration of American Independene 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. THOMAS L. JONES, 



OF KENTUCKY, 



IN TIIE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JANUARY 20, 1876. 



%# 



X 



WASHINGTON 

1876. 



\ 

\ 









' 



SPEECH . 

OF 

HON. THOMAS L. JONES, 

OP KENTUCKY, 

In the House of ^Representatives, 

Tliursday, January 20, 1876. 

The House, ae in Committee of the Whole, having under consideration the hill 
(H. R. No. 514) relating to the centennial celebration of American Independence — 

Mr. JONES, of Kentucky, said : 

Mr. Chairman : I had not intended to address the committee upon 
this bill. I have no prepared speech to make. I have not put pen 
to paper. But after the able and pursuasive speeches that have 
been made by gentlemen on this side of the House against this 
measure, as I intend to vote differently from them, I propose to give 
some of the reasons which influence me in my support of it. 

I do not presume, sir, to take a flight on the wings of the American 
eagle, or to stand upon the helmet of the Goddess of Liberty that 
crowns this Capitol, and belabor the air with sound and fury, but I 
propose to speak words of truth and soberness. When I sat here yes- 
terday and heard the very eloquent speech of the gentleman from 
Virginia, like Agrippa listening to Paul I was almost persuaded. But 
sir, I am not quite ready to yield to his constitutional Christianity at 
least. 

Now, sir, I shall support this measure because I believe it is in the 
interest of peace and amity among the people of the United States. 
I shall support it because I am a southern man — yes, sir, southern as 
he who is most southern. I shall support it because I am an Ameri- 
can citizen and a Union man. I have nothing to do, Mr. Chairman, 
with those discourteous and contemptuous flings aud gibes which have 
been made from this side of the House to the other, or from the other 
side to this. I participate in no feelings which prompt such unbe- 
coming deportment on this floor. I will endeavor to rise to a higher 
plane. I consider the South, now so ably and gallantly represented 
on this floor, as reconstructed — reconstructed, sir, it is true, against my 
own voice and vote in many of the modes which made up reconstruc- 
tion. But since it has been done I abide it, and so do these honorable 
gentlemen abide it. I have been reared, like the gentleman from 
Virginia, in the school of the strict construction of the Constitution. 
I have read and heard a great deal upon that subject from both stand- 
points, North and South, and my observation and. experience have in- 
clined me on some subjects at least to leave a little the strict construc- 
tion side, and I think that I have illustrious examples for doing so. 

The subject of internal improvements which has been alluded to is 
hereafter to be discussed in this House. It is a question upon which 
gentlemen on this side are to divide, and perhaps it is as well that, 
although we occupy the same stand-point, as it were, yet we see things 



differently. I expect, sir, to invoke the aid of this Government to 
son) e works of internal improvement in the South, that the South, 
equally taxed, may enjoy equally with the North the benefits of the 
Government. I expect to invoke it in some shape or another for the 
g?,reat Southern Texas Pacific Railroad ; and for my authority in the 
^Constitution, or in the views of the expounders of the Constitution, 
/ 1 point to the greatest strict constructionist the South ever produced, 
/ wnose voice and whose pen have interpreted that instrument. Mr. 
Calhoun in 1816 was the very father in this country of a system of 
internal improvement. In that year he moved that a committee of 
Congress be appointed to present a bill for the purpose of devising a 
system of internal improvement. He was chairman of that commit- 
tee, and reported the bill. It provided that the stock of the Govern- 
ment in the United States Bank and that the bonus that was offered 
the Government by private stockholders of the bank should be set 
apart as a permanent fund for internal improvements in the States. 
And he said, sir, on that occasion — 

Let us bind the Republic together by a perfect system of railroads and canals ; 
let us conquer space. * * * It is thus the most distant parts of the Republic 
will be brought within a few days' travel of the center ; it is thus that the citizen 
of the West will read the news of Boston still moist from the press. 

He said this in the vigor of his great intellect and when the illus- 
trious authors of the Constitution, from whom he drew his lessons, 
still lived. I am aware that Mr. Calhoun afterward doubted the 
faith which he then promulgated and reasoned much in the other di- 
rection. But I point, sir, to another renowned example among the 
expounders of the Constitution. Daniel Webster, on the question of 
internal improvements in the States by the General Government, said — 
I use his own language — he " had not a particle of doubt as to the 
power of Congress." In a speech which he made in 1836 on the bill 
providing that the Government of the United States should purchase 
the private stock in the Louisville canal and hold and improve it 
as a medium of commerce, he went into the doctrine of the con- 
stitutionality of the measure, and he said upon that bill "he was a 
western man as he who was most western," and he would support it 
if it was simply a means of intercourse between and for the benefit 
of but two of the States of the Union^ Indiana and Kentucky. He 
looked not to the locality but the magnitude of the object. 

He said that the Government had just as much right to improve 
rivers or construct railroads for the purposes of commerce as it had to 
built forts, light-houses, or harbors on the seashore. 

And I would say to the gentleman from Virginia [ Mr. John R aistdolph 
Tucker] that probably the first step ever taken in this country to- 
ward the regulation of commerce among the States and to establish a 
system to promote it was in the house of delegates of Virginia. In 
July, 1785, they adopted the following resolution. I commend the 
name that heads it to the honorable gentleman's memory : 

Resolved, That Edmund Randolph and others be appointed commissioners, who 
or any five of whom shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed by the 
other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take into consid- 
eration the trade of the United States, to examine the relative situation and trade 
of the said States, to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regu- 
lations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony, 
and to report to the several States such an act, relative to this great subject as, when 
unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress assembled 
effectually to provide for the same. That the said commissioners shall immediately 
transmit to the several States copies of the preceding resolution with a circular let- 
ter requesting their concurrence therein and proposing a time and place for the 
meeting aforesaid. 



o 

But, sir, leaving the subject of commerce or internal improvements 
for discussion on some more fit occasion and coming to the immediate 
question before the committee, I am expected and I ought to give 
some reason for the right which Congress has to appropriate money 
or to take stock, if you please, in this enterprise. My friend from 
Virginia [Mr. Tucker] went into an argument for a strict construc- 
tion of the Constitution, and denied the power of Congress to do any 
such thing. I propose to follow him as briefly as possible. I desire 
to call his attention first to the preamble of the Constitution itself. 

That preamble specifies in general terms the objects for which the 
Constitution was made. It reads : v 

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, es- 
tablish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, pro- 
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
terity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

It was then as much the object of the Constitution or of its framers 
to "insure domestic tranquillity" or "promote the general welfare" 
as it was to ." establish justice " or to " provide for the common de- 
fense " or to " secure the blessings of liberty," or, indeed, to " form a 
more perfect union." Who shall discriminate between these great 
objects of the Constitution, or say that the Government has less or 
more power to effect one than the other ? Is not the obligation of the 
Government equally great in respect to all ? 

But we are not left to the preamble alone for authority. "We find 
in the body of the Constitution itself, in the enumeration of the pow- 
ers of Congress, that — 

The Congress shall have powers to lay an 1 collect taxes, duties, imposts and ex- 
cises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of 
the United States. 

All will say that here is a specific power given to Congress to col- 
lect taxes to pay debts, and who shall say the power is not equally 
given to provide for the general welfare f The power is there ; and the 
only question is how shall the general welfare be provided for, in 
what manner, and to what extent? I say it is for the Congress in 
its best wisdom to determine. Another of the enumerated powers is 
"to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures," but in what amount or 
denomination, whether of gold, silver, or copper, or how regulate 
weights and measures, is not specified. It is for Congress to deter- 
mine. Another is " to establish post-offices and post-roads," but 
whether to build a house for a post-office costing a thousand dollars 
or a million it is not defined ; it is left for Congress to determine. 
Another is " to declare war ;" another, " to raise and support ar- 
mies ;" but the specific mode of making weapons of warfare or pro- 
viding munitions of war, or how much money is to be appropriated 
for the purpose, is not described or stated. Another power is " to pro- 
vide and maintain a navy," but there is no defined power to build a 
brig or man-of-war, at what cost or in what manner a navy shall be 
maintained. All these things follow the general power, and it is left 
for Congress to determine how tbey shall be provided. 

Why, sir, how is it that Congress appropriates money to build great 
hospitals for the sick and wounded and aired soldiers and sailors of 
the Union ? There is no definite power in the Constitution to build a 
hospital. How is it that Congress grants pensions and appropriates 
millions every year to pay theui ? The specific power is not in the 
Constitution ; the word pension cannot be found in the instrument. 
How was it that even yesterday this House passed a bill giving a sal- 



6 

ary for life to a feeble and paralyzed judge, retiring Mm before the 
limitation in time fixed by law ? I am aware that some of the com- 
mentators and the courts have based the exercise of such powers upon 
the idea or assumption of a debt owing such persons by the Govern- 
ment. But, sir, there is no authority in the Constitution for it ; it is 
simply the discharge of implied duties and obligations arising under 
the general powers of the Constituton. No strict constructionist 
would, deny or oppose such an exercise of power. How is it that the 
Government has bestowed charities and aided the distressed and 
afflicted at home and abroad ? There is no distinct power in the Con- 
stitution to dp any of these things. Sir, did the authors of that bond 
of government intend to forbid the Congress and the lawful authori- 
ties the exercise of the principles of charity and humanity or the 
power in certain .contingencies or emergencies to "promote the general 
welfare "or "insure domestic tranquillity" even by the appropriation 
of money ? If such had been the intention our Government could 
not have existed, and its grand proportions and appendages, its mag- 
nificent edifices, ornaments, and public improvements, and. its humane 
and noble beneficence would not now command the respect and ad- 
miration of the world. Then I say, sir, that to " provide for the gen- 
eral welfare " is one of the enumerated powers of the Constitution, 
and then follows at the close of the section enumerating the powers 
of Congress this clause, namely : 

To make all laws which shall he necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. 

Sir, if the authors of the Constitution had thought it necessary to 
give definite authority to perform all the ac ts and do all the things 
which they knew were indispensable to build up a great and benevo- 
lent government, they could have filled a book as large as the Holy 
Bible. They intended only to lay out a general plan and specify cer- 
tain general powers from which would necessarily flow by implica- 
tion or inference the authority to carry them out, and the Government 
has exercised this authority from its foundation to the present time. 
I am for strict construction as far as we can apply the rule, but to say 
that we can or ought under all circumstances adopt and apply any 
fixed rule of construction I utterly deny. It cannot be done in the 
nature of the case. Why, sir, suppose a storm from heaven should 
come to-morrow and desolate half the State of Virginia, level its 
dwellings to the dust, and send its people homeless, houseless, naked, 
and starving into the wilderness, and no help could come but from 
the Government, should we deny food and raiment to the children 
of the good old mother under a strict construction of the Constitution 
that we had no power to appropriate money for any such purpose ? A 
good government is humane and charitable, and will take care of its 
people. 

Mr. Calhoun said on one occasion " he was no advocate for refined 
arguments on the Constitution. The instrument was not intended as 
a thesis for the logician to exercise his ingenuity on." 

Mr. Madison said as late as 1830 : 

In order to understand the true character of the Constitution of the United States 
the error, not uncommon, must be avoided of viewing it through the medium either 
of a consolidated government or of a confederated government, while it is neither 
the one nor the other, hut a mixture *of both. And having in no model the simili- 
tude and analogies applicable to other systemsjof government, it must, more than 
any other, be its own interpreter according to its text and the facts of the case. 

There, sir, is the rule, "its text and the facts of the case." Under these 



and according to these it is reserved for Congress to use its best dis- 
cretion and wisdom, and I apply these words of wisdom to the facts 
and circumstances before us and to the case under discussion. 

I was surprised, Mr. Chairman, to hear at this day in our history, 
the speech of the gentleman from Virginia, although it was able and 
eloquent, and has given him a high reputation. I rather regret that 
he made it ; I do not think it will have a tendency to unite the democ- 
racy on this floor or have a good effect upon the country; and while 
I agree with him in much he said as to the structure and character of 
the Government, eet I do not entirely admit his conclusions. "Tem- 
pore/, mutantur et nos mutamur in illis." 

I call myself a strict constructionist, and yet I am more liberal than 
formerly. It will hardly do now to preach precisely the same rigid 
doctrines of State rights which we did twenty years ago ; we might 
stir up old feuds which would endanger the democratic unity, for we 
are composed of old whigs and democrats alike, and they have always 
differed on this subject. While we should guard, with the utmost vigi- 
lance the rights of the States, it is perhaps not needful now that we 
should enter into learned disquisitions upon the confederate or national 
character of the Republic, whether it is based upon a compact or a con- 
stitution. 

In my readings this morning I chanced upon a paragraph in the 
Lectures on Constitutional Law of a distinguished Virginian — Henry 
St. George Tucker — to his law class in the university of that State. 
I believe he was the father of the honorable gentleman. He spoke 
thus : 

It is not then by artificial reasoning founded upon theory, but upon a careful sur- 
vey of the language of the Constitution itself, that we are to interpret its powers 
and its obligations, "We are to treat it as it purports on its face to be, as a Consti- 
tution of government ; and we are to reject all other appellations and definitions of 
it, such as that it is a compact, especially as they may mislead us into false con- 
structions and glosses, and can have no tendency to instruct us in its real objects. 

The gentleman ought to claim this by inheritance, and I commend 
it to him as a precious legacy. 

Let us all remember, especially after the experience of the last few 
years, and in this felicitous period of our history, the peculiar circum- 
stances under which the Constitution was adopted, by what conces- 
sions and compromises, yielding local interests and prejudices for the 
general good and an enlarged patriotism. It would be well , Mr. Chair- 
man, for us to ponder long and often the words of Washington, the 
president of the convention which framed the Constitution, in pre- 
senting it to the old Congress for adoption. He said: 

It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these States to secure 
all rights of independent sovereignty to each and yet provide for the interest and 
safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to 
preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation 
and circumstances as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to 
draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered and 
those which may be reserved ; and on the present occasion this difficulty was in- 
creased by a difference among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits, 
and particular interests. In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily 
in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American : 
the consolidation of our Union ; in which are involved our prosperity, f elicity, safety, 
perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply 
impressed on our minds, led each State in the convention to be less rigid on points of 
inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected, and thus the Consti- 
tution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity and that mutual def- 
erence and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered in- 
dispensable. 

This, sir, was the spirit that animated the great and glorious authors 



of the Constitution. Let us try in its administration to follow their 
benign example. This too, sir, has been the spirit which influenced 
our greatest judges, from Chief Justices Marshall and Story down, in 
their most important decisions upon questions of national interests, 
whether of material or moral import. I have not time to cite them. 
The same spirit in the main also runs through the texts of the most dis- 
tinguished commentators upon constitutional law. It is the pervading 
spirit in the emanations of our greatest lawyers, statesmen, and ora- • 
tors, and by none displayed with so much learning, ability, eloquence, 
and patriotism as the matchless "Webster. It is the heart and soul of 
all his grand arguments and orations in the courts, in the Houses of 
Congress, or before vast multitudes of our countrymen. 

I admit, sir, that the powers of the Constitution have often been 
misused and misapplied. The Congress has often most unwisely and 
criminally exercised its discretion in the discharge of its duties, but 
that does not affect the principle. The rights and. privileges of that 
great instrument, like the blessings of God, are to be used and not 
abused. The only rule is a wise discretion. 

Now, sir, as to the constitutional power of Congress to appropriate 
money to further and complete the preparations for the centennial 
celebration I have not a particle of doubt ; I would put it even alone 
on the power to promote the "general welfare," whether that power 
may be considered express, implied, or residuary. But there is an- 
other view to take of this question. The Constitution, in defining 
the powers and duties of the President, says : 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make 
treaties, &c. 

Now, sir, by act of Congress of June 5, 1874, the President was di- 
rected "to extend in the name of the United States a respectful and. 
cordial invitation to the governments and other nations to be repre- 
sented and take part in the international exposition to be held at 
Philadelphia under the auspices of the Government of the United 
States in the year 1876." The President accordingly extended that 
invitation to all the civilized nations and go vernments of the earth ; 
and how many, sir, have already responded ? We are told that En- 
gland, France, Russia, Austria, Spain, Italy, China, Belgium, Denmark, 
Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, 
Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Hayti, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, 
Persia, Liberia, Siam, Guatemala and Salvador, Honduras, the United 
States of Colombia, the Argentine Confederation, Tunis, and the 
Orange Free States, and others, amounting to nearly forty in number, 
have accepted and appropriated large sums of money to have them- 
selves properly represented with their arts, their skill and genius, 
their manufactures and productions, at this grand assembly of the 
nations. 

Now, sir, this act on the part of our Government and its President 
is in the nature of a treaty, and imposes a corresponding obligation. 
That obligation is to see that the invitation thus extended and thus 
accepted shall be carried out and realized in a manner corresponding 
with and creditable to the wealth, the character, the grandeur, and 
glory of the United States of America. The honor, sir, of our Gov- 
ernment is involved in this business, and we cannot disguise it. Your 
honor, sir, and my honor, and the honor of every Representative on 
this floor, is, in the true sense of pride and patriotism, involved in it. 
We cannot ignore it. Let us act for our country as under like circum- 
stances we would act for ourselves. Who among us would slight his 



9 

invited guest or tarnish the honor of his house by an unseemly and 
stinted feast ? 

No, sir ; let the United States in this matter rise to the full meas- 
ure of her majestic proportions and show the nations of the world 
who she is and what she is at home among her own people. Let us 
not be " penny wise and pound foolish." The money proposed to be 
appropriated will be nothing compared to the benefit received. Re- 
garding it in the sense merely of profit and loss — which is perhaps too 
sordid to be thought of — it will be a speculation for our people. Mill- 
ions will come in and be spent among them and but little will go out. 
It will increase the wealth of the whole community. But, sir, in a 
higher sense it will prove of the greatest importance to our people. 
It will be a great school of instruction and education, teaching both 
by theory and practical illustration in all the sciences and arts, and 
giving visible demonstration of all the productions of the earth and 
of the varied industrial pursuits of man. 

It has been said that this is a local enterprise gotten up for the 
benefit of the city of Philadelphia. I regard it in no such light. The 
spirit of it is national. The acts of Congress have made it national. 
It rises from the very birth of our liberty atfd Union, and speaks to 
every heart in this broad land ; it embodies the signers of the Declara- 
tion and the framers of the Constitution, and appeals to us their de- 
scendants to give it free scope and let it be glorified. It is true that 
the noble State of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia have con- 
tributed great sums, which, together with other individual and State 
contributions, amount to nearly $5,000,000. They have already ejected 
mighty and magnificent structures, 'covering immense spaces of ground 
and rising to the very skies in the most exquisite architectural beauty 
and grandeur. But we are assured that they must have more ; they can 
give no more themselves; and unless the Government comes to the res- 
cue the great exhibition will fail. Shall we allow it to fail or shall 
we make it more emphatically our own and national by laying the 
hand of the Government to the work that it may be carried to its full 
and complete proportions ? These reasons alone, to my judgment, 
would seem sufficient for us to grant this appropriation. 

But I said, sir, in the beginning, that I supported this measure in 
the interest of peace and unity among the people of the United States. 
That, with me, is the chief object. I know no way and can imagine 
none by which the " general welfare " can be promoted so efficiently, 
so appropriately, and so delightfully as this. It was indeed a happy 
conception, and our hundredth anniversary could have come at no 
time when it was more important to quiet the prejudices arid still the 
passions and unite the hearts of our people than now. The great 
war through which we have passed and the consequent suffering 
have not done their perfect work. Something more is needed ; " do- 
mestic tranquillity" and the "general welfare" havenot been "insured 
and promoted." It behooves us to try another plan — the plan of 
peace and brotherhood. 

Sir, if Adams and Jefferson, Hancock and Rutledge, had stood among 
us the other day and had witnessed the scene that occurred on this floor, 
they would have thought that something was yet necessary to pro- 
mote the " general welfare." And can you imagine that they would 
have suggested anything more fit and becoming than the measure be- 
fore us ? They would have implored us to hesitate not in this work, 
but give money if necessary, and ample for the purpose of bringing 
the people of this great country together and producing harmony, 
friendship, and unity among them, that they might go on and raise 



10 

still higher the fame of this land for wealth, skill in the arts, manu- 
factures, and all productive industry ; and for the accomplishment of 
these great objects they could have pointed us to no more appropriate 
occasion than the celebration of the birthday of American Independ- 
ence on the very spot of its origin. I feel that their spirits are look- 
ing down upon us to-day and silently appealing to our hearts to 
approve this measure. 

Sir, I have more confidence in the people than in their leaders. 
They have no object in keeping up the animosities and nursing the 
passions which the conduct of some of their Eepresentatives in this 
House would indicate. They are purer in heart; they know their in- 
terest better, and they want peace. I believe their hearts and minds 
are in this centennial celebration. Why, sir, they talk of it day and 
night in their homes and families, and thousands are saving their hard- 
earned pennies to enable them and their children to go and behold 
this great exhibition, the wonder of all the earth ; there, too, to meet 
their fellow-citizens from the North, the South, the East, and the 
West, to shake hands over the cradle of their liberties and resolve to 
part from the father's house no more forever. And I want every Amer- 
ican citizen when he gees to that sacred spot to feel that he is not 
indebted alone to Pennsylvania or Philadelphia, or any other State or 
city, for his enjoyment there, but that its great preparations are his 
own, he in part having paid for them by the sweat of his own brow, 
and that the expense came from the common treasure of the people. 

Why, sir, every orator of the country, every preacher of the gospel, 
every executive of a State for the last two years has been eloquently 
rejoicing in the coming glories of -the grand centennial. The people 
everywhere are hailing it with acclamations of joy. Shall we not re- 
spect them and their wishes ? Have we not seen within the last year 
the most convincing demonstrations of returning good-will and friend- 
ship among the people, both North and South ; and shall we stop or 
stay for a moment this bright and limpid current that is sweeping 
the land ? Look how the sons of Virginia and South Carolina, of 
Yorktown and Eutaw were received by those of Lexington and Con- 
cord, of Boston and Bunker Hill. The son of the great Lee himself 
was taken as it were to the bosom of the people of Boston, and he and 
his friends, confederate soldiers and citizens, were feted and feasted. 
The women and the children came out to honor them ; they threw 
evergreens in their paths and roses on their heads. They met the 
welcome of brothers. And look, sir, how the men of Mecklenburgh 
last May threw open their doors and their stores and invited the peo- 
ple of all sections to come and partake of their generous hospitality 
and celebrate with them the centennial anniversary of the declara- 
tion of their fathers, the first declaration of independence that saw 
the light on the shores of the new world. There was another com- 
mon and glorious rejoicing. I love the Carolinas ; born in one and 
reared in the other, I claim them both. Old North Carolina, my na- 
tive State, God bless her ! 

Though she envies not others their merited glory, 

Say, whose name stands the foremost in liberty's story ? 

Sir, let us not quench this fraternal spirit ; let us promote it by giv- 
ing the people this grand jubilee. It may be the food and the blood 
of life to the Eepublic. We have a large debt, it is true, and it is 
incumbent upon us to economize and retrench; but in this measure 
we bring about that fellowship and harmony which will enable us 
the better to accumulate wealth with which to pay the debt and move 



11 

on to untold riches — riches in money, riches in knowledge, riches in 
wisdom, and riches in brotherly love. Let us make one more and 
signal effort to bind the sections together. 

Once more unto the "breach, dear friends, once more. 

Mr. Calhoun aptly said on another question, but for a like purpose : 

Bat on the subject of national power -what can be more important than a per- 
fect unity in every part, in feelings and sentiments, and what can tend more power- 
fully to produce it than overcoming the effects of distance ? "Uninfluenced by any 
other consideration than love of country and duty, let us add this to the many use- 
ful measures already adopted. The money cannot be appropriated to a more ex- 
alted use. Every portion of the community — the farmer, mechanic, and 'merchant 
will feel its good effects, and— =what is of the greatest importance, the strength of the 
community will be augmented and its political prosperity rendered more secure. 

I make his words my own, and apply them to the measure under 
consideration. 

Mr. Chairman, I know that I differ with many of my political 
friends on this subject, and with perhaps everyone of my own dele- 
gation in Congress. I yield to them, sir, the same conscientious 
convictions in the discharge of their duties which I claim for myself. 
But I must carry out my principles and my faith, " come what come 
may." I am willing to meet the people, and stand, or fall by my own 
acts. I take the responsibility ; and in the immortal language of John 
Adams, as he stood for the Declaration on the floor^of Independence 
Hall, braving the judgment of the world but conscious of his own 
rectitude and in the fear of God, so I stand for the Centennial : 

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this 
vote. 



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